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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Guest Post: B.F. Betty

Today, author B.F. Betty joins me to talk about her experience writing and publishing her first short story, The Apartment, recently released as part of the Summer Confections anthology from Renaissance Romance Publishing.

In the view of full disclosure, I am a co-owner in Renaissance Romance, with my two dear friends Lisa Bilbrey and Michele Richard. It has been our honor to get to know and work with this wonderfully talented author while she has set out on this journey.

Without further ado:

The Start of a New
and Fantastic Journey

It feels odd to be sitting here, trying to explain
my experience in writing The Apartment. There are a lot of emotions that could
be used to describe the journey I went through, but the one that comes to mind
the most is overwhelming. Of course that would a bit of an understatement. When
I sat down to start writing, I had this little glimmer of an idea for what I
wanted The Apartment to be about, but I wasn’t prepared for the rollercoaster
of emotions that it took me on.

Eve and Sebastian’s story literally poured from my
fingertips in the span of ten days. I remember sitting at my laptop for hours.
It wasn’t until my cell phone rang that I realized that I was holding my
breath, waiting for what was going to happen next. Eve and Sebastian blindsided
me, and I loved every moment of it.

Of course, writing the manuscript was the easy
part. Next came submitting it to Renaissance Romance Publishing and waiting to
hear back on it they wanted it or not. I’ll admit it; I was terrified. I didn’t
know these people and here I was asking them to judge my soul. Melodramatic?
Perhaps, but I poured everything I had into The Apartment, and I’m damn proud
of it.

Luck was on my side, and Renaissance Romance
Publishing accepted my manuscript and offered me a deal. I cried. I can admit
it. All of my dreams were coming true. And they have, though my work was only
just beginning. Next came editing and I will be honest, it scared the crap out
of me. We’ve all heard the horror stories of editors sending back manuscript
that are covered in red ink and demanding a full re-write. Well, the rewrite
wasn’t ordered at least.

Seriously, the editors at Renaissance Romance did
a fabulous job of pointing out where I used ‘was’ too many times, or how I tend
to repeat myself a bit. They weren’t ballbusters about it, and commented on the
plot twists that I threw in. No, I’m not going to tell you what that was;
you’ll just have to read The Apartment for yourself. Yes, yes; I’m a tease and
proud of it.

After multiple rounds of editing, and a few more
tears of doubt, my book was ready to be released. Michele Richard, Laura
Braley, and Lisa Bilbrey held hand and promised me that it would be okay. Along
with a fellow new author, Estelle Mars we managed to release our books without
passing out. I’m proud that The Apartment was included in Summer Confections,
Book Two of the Candy Collection.

In the grand scheme of things, I’m thrilled to be
a part of Renaissance Romance. They’ve become like a family to me, and I can’t
wait to work with them again.

B.F. Betty

Biography—

B.F. Betty lives in a rural small town in Northern
Texas. Her passion for the written words
led her to a lifetime of searching for the perfect character that would carry
her away to her happily ever after. Instead of waiting for them to find her,
B.F. decided to search them out. With each new book, she finds another piece of
happiness and joy.

You can find out more about this talented author and what she has in store for the future through the following links: